Japan's Abe Urges More Spending

By

George Nishiyama,

Yuka Hayashi and

Alexander Martin

Updated Nov. 22, 2012 5:05 p.m. ET

TOKYO—The front-runner to become Japan's next prime minister said he would consider loosening some of Japan's fiscal-discipline policies, in defiance of warnings by credit raters to curb borrowing by the world's most indebted government, suggesting instead more spending to help jump-start growth.

"First, we will concentrate our policy tools to curb deflation," opposition leader Shinzo Abe said in an interview Thursday with The Wall Street Journal. "But that can't be done solely by monetary policy," he...